With an injured shoulder and now weak arm, Alex ran to leave the valley and find a place to rest quickly. The time was almost near for the first round of eliminations after the one-hour mark, and he had no worries about not meeting the mark given his number of eliminations.
He found a good place around a waterfall that had intricate rock formations, caves and various plants. It provided a beautiful and serene atmosphere for relaxation. No one would be found in this kind of area given the time left.
"Everyone should be busy getting their eliminations as high as possible. This should give me about half an hour's worth of rest." He muttered, found one of the caves closer to the falling water, and entered. Naturally, he made sure to look around for anyone who might be hiding. You can never be too careful.
Once inside, he removed the top part of his combat suit and looked at his wounds, "That was extremely careless. Thankfully, it is already showing signs of healing." Alex observed as he carefully studied the area and noticed how the bleeding had stopped. Even with his clothing removed, the badge remained firmly in its place, but Alex paid no mind.
He moved close to the falls for a quick wash of the wounded area. The cool water falling over his face, sliding off his chest and into his pants gave him a refreshing feeling of clarity and peace.
A few minutes later, Alex heard a loud alarm ringing throughout the continent and a large timer appearing high above everyone. Everyone in this competition could see the timer that was counting down from two minutes to zero.
"It still doesn't say how many eliminations are needed to pass the first hour." He noticed this peculiarity but then again, the instructors had no obligations to say so. All the students needed to do was amass as many eliminations as possible before the hour passed. How you achieve that was up to the student to decide.
Once the timer reached zero, a voice representing the system monitoring the battle royale rang throughout the continent, stopping every single student in their tracks. Even those still in the process of fighting were stopped and made to pay attention.
[First round of eliminations: students with 10 eliminations or less. This number will increase as the hours pass.]
Immediately after the voice finished, all students who had eliminations from 10 and below were eliminated by turning them into light particles. Hundreds of thousands of students from the start more than a million were instantly removed.
The effect was also instantaneous. With a promise of this number increasing, students began running around, hunting their year mates with more zeal. At the start of the battle royale, the instructions said 500 students would be eliminated, but the numbers were far more than anticipated.
Furthermore, some things were kept quiet intentionally. Not all things go as planned out there and the academy made sure to instill that into their students. The smart ones would notice and this is what sets them apart from the rest.
Even from where Alex stood, he could hear the sound of multiple explosions happening all around him once the frozen students were unfrozen.
"All of a sudden, things have been cranked up," Alex mused and returned to the cave. "Let's take a breather and also return to action. This time around, there'll be no dallying around." His gaze turned serious as he muttered those words. While he had more tricks up his sleeve, he planned to hold on to them till the actual competition.
You wouldn't want to reveal all your cards, right? Especially with the eyes of practically every other student and faculty member on him. Sitting cross-legged, he relaxed his breathing, closed his eyes and waited for his injury to heal a bit more. Thirty minutes shouldn't be too much lost time. His hit-and-run tactics hadn't changed, it just got more serious and faster.
......
Abigail had gotten a few more eliminations under her belt before the first round of eliminations. Currently, she had a score of 45 eliminations and was on the hunt for more. She made sure to avoid being spotted and took out any student who crossed her path. Even members of her won class were not spared.
Right now, she was in an area that looked like a city in a post-apocalyptic world, a perfect world for a huntress such as herself. It also had the highest number of students around, at least from what she guessed.
Whenever she spotted a cluster of fighting students, she would pick off one by one. Since the chaos had increased after the first round of eliminations, the students were more proactive in eliminating each other than before. From ten, that number could increase to 30 to 50 or even more. No one wants to be eliminated.
The outstanding students themselves were also being avoided like plagues. Their prowess may not be like the students from higher classes, but they dominated anyone who was foolish enough to think they could pick on them.
Abigail spotted one of such students fighting a group of three students and winning. The scene reminded her of a certain someone she failed to eliminate. It pained her, but there was nothing she could do about it.
"There could be other opportunities too," She whispered and nocked an explosive arrow, taking aim at the students from a vantage point high on a skyscraper. Of course, she wasn't conceited enough to think she was the only archer around. There was bound to be others around and if she wasn't careful, she would be eliminated without even knowing how, just like she was doing to others.
BOOOM!
The arrow swiftly cut through the air and landed in the centre of the fighting students. The explosion wasn't particularly loud, but it was powerful for what she wanted. Additionally, loud explosions were already ringing everywhere in the city. It was like a warzone.
She watched as the dust cleared. Three of the students were eliminated, save for one, the outstanding student. He had a ward of air around him that protected him from the explosion.
"Hmm, a kindred spirit, huh?" She muttered with a small smile and the number on her badge changed from 45 to 112, taking the kills of her fallen victims in addition.
The student noticed the arrow the moment it reached the ground and quickly raised his defence, not caring about the mana use. Right now, the student was looking in the direction the explosive arrow came from but couldn't pinpoint exactly where the shooter was hiding. His guard had been raised and Abigail had no choice but to disappear.
That was a smart move as a few seconds later, the student created a large air blade that cut right through the base of the building, bringing it down!